Improvement in steam vacuum-pumps



C. H. HALL.

Improvement in Steam Vacuum-Pumps.

Patented Sep. 24,1872.

Www/nem fmwa,

UNrrnD STATES PATENT @seien CHARLES H. HALL, OF NEW' YORK, N. Y.

`lliiflOVElENT' IN STEAM VACUUM-PUMPS.

specification forming part of Letters Patent No. lenses, uma september e4, 187e.

.OASE S.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES IL HALL, of New York city, in the State of New York, have invented a certain Improvement in Steam Pumping Apparatus, of which thefollowing is a specification:

The invention relates to that class of pumping apparatus in which the steam is admitted into the same chamber or chambers with the water, and presses upon the surface thereof. The working parts are small relatively to the capacity for pumping, and the apparatus constitutes an efficient pumping means, operating rapidly and reliably. I employ strong charnbers provided with valves for admitting water and holding it against its return, and also with valves for allowing it to be expelled through another pipe to be conducted to an elevated reservoir, or to such other point as may be desired, and the operations of being filled with water and being discharged succeed each other' by reason of a change of position of the steam valve or valves, governing the admission of steam from a boiler or steamgenerator, which may be situated at a distance. There are two equal chambers in each set of' the apparatus, the two filling and emptying alternately. The chamber which is filling With water should complete its filling before its mate is emptied, and the change of the steam-valves is effected automatically on the completion of' the emptying of the discharging-chamber.

llhe following is a full and exact description of what I consider the best means .of carrying into effect one form of' the invention. The accompanying drawing forms a part of this specification.

Figures 1 and 2 represent this form, in which the change of condition in the steam-valves is induced or aided by changes in the position of hollow vessels which become alternately filled with water and emptied again as the water-level in the chambers A1 A2 rises and sinks. Fig. lis a side elevation partly in section, and Fig. 2 is a plan view.

The steam-valves c1 c2 are fixed upon a rod, e, which extends out through a stuffing-box at each end of the valve-chest, and is connected at each end to a lever. The apparatus is the same at each end. The lever F, turning upon the pivot f', is connected by a link, Y1, to the bell-crank lever G1, which turns on a pivot, g', and carries a hollow vessel, H1, of considerable capacity. The bottom of the vessel H1 is connected by a flexible pipe, m1, to the bottom of the chamber A1, and the top of the vessel H1 is connected by a corresponding pipe, n1, to a higher point in the chamber A1. The steam-valve c1 is represented as open, admitting steam to the chamber A1, which expels the water, driving it up past the valve p and sinking the water-level.A When the water has got below the connection of the pipe a1 the steam passes up rapidly through the latter and allows the vessel H1 to empty itself, the water therein falling by gravity, through the pipe m1, into the vessel A1. So soon as the vessel H1 is lightened by this emptying action it allows the f'orce of' the superior weight of the opposite vessel H2, which has been previously lled from the filled chamber A2, to be felt through the several connections, and the rod c is moved promptly to the left, thereby closing the steam-valve c1 and opening the steamvalve c2.

' Now, the same round of operations occurs in the chamber A2 and its connections as has been heretofore described in the chamber A1, while the steam in the chamber A1, becoming rapidly condensed, induces a vacuum andthe cold water flows up from the pipe O past the induction-valve o', filling the chamber A1, and also, by the condensation in the vessel H1, filling that promptly with water. This vessel H1 has been previously elevated by the motion of the rod c to the left, as will be evident from the connections represented, and the gravity of thenow loaded vessel H1 is ready to exert its effect in restoring the parts to their primitive condition so soon as the opposite vessel H2 is lightened by the rise of' steam through the pipe u2, when the chamber A2 is nearly emptied. The chambers thus promptly alternate, the one filling not only itself, but also its connected vessel, before the water is quite expelled from the other chamber, and the change in the conditions for the admission of the steam occurring promptly so soon as the emptying-chamber becomes sufficiently emptied.

I have found by experiment that the loss of steam is slight when worked in this manner in uncoated vessels 5 but I propose in ordinary practice to coat the interior of each chamber with japan varnish, or with red lead and oil, or with a solution of rubber, or the like7 to serve as a durable non-conductor of heat. I can make the chambers and the several connections of lead, to pump acids, or of glass or other material for any special uses requiring such.

What I claim as my invention is as follows:

In combination with the Chamb ers A1 A2, suitable water induction and eduction means, and 

